Skyrocketing AEC information pushes want for information governance greatest practices

Because the structure, engineering and development (AEC) {industry} is present process a staggering progress within the creation of knowledge, organizations want to position a robust concentrate on data governance greatest practices.

That is likely one of the findings of a brand new examine of the AEC sector that reveals it has skilled a 31.2% compound progress fee in information storage since 2017. The quantity of recent information being captured or created is staggering, however getting full worth from it will depend on how the info is managed, saved, accessed and guarded.

In keeping with the AEC Data Insights Report from Egnyte, “the AEC {industry} is experiencing unprecedented progress, challenges and alternatives all of sudden. Demand is excessive, supply chains are unpredictable, however by means of it all of the {industry} is rising. So is the quantity of knowledge it’s utilizing and storing to perform on this roller-coaster surroundings.”

Egnyte surveyed roughly 3,000 organizations on their present and up to date data management and information storage practices. Whereas the agency anticipated to see a rise in information creation and storage, it was caught without warning on simply how a lot that has elevated.

Stunning progress

“In all probability probably the most stunning discovering was the speed of storage progress of our clients over the 4 years,” Ronen Vengosh, vp of AEC at Egnyte, advised VentureBeat. “Whereas that is according to different {industry} reviews, the truth that, on common, our clients have almost quadrupled their information storage – from 0.9 TB in 2017 to three.5 TB in 2021 – is a reasonably placing indication of how AEC companies have develop into information corporations.”

The pandemic tremendously accelerated the AEC {industry}’s digital transformation, Vengosh defined. Increasingly more AEC companies have migrated to the cloud over the previous couple of years. That is largely pushed by the cloud’s skill to allow simpler communication and collaboration between distant staff and people engaged on challenge websites, whereas additionally permitting them to securely analyze and course of massive quantities of knowledge.

“As well as, the {industry} is experiencing dramatic acceleration within the adoption of superior, data-intensive expertise (drone video, laser scanning, and many others.), and we’re seeing organizations acquire and retain all that information – usually with out strong practices to type out what information must be stored and what needs to be discarded,” Vengosh mentioned.

This progress has had a big influence on information infrastructure, Vengosh mentioned. AEC companies have needed to make strategic choices on find out how to handle and safe their rising volumes of knowledge successfully with out disrupting productiveness or challenge outcomes. This comes because the AEC {industry} is experiencing extra stringent regulation and compliance necessities.

Key report findings

There have been a number of key findings within the Egnyte AEC Knowledge Insights Report, Vengosh mentioned. They embrace:

• AEC companies retailer and act on extra recordsdata than different industries. The everyday AEC agency manages 149% (2.49x) extra recordsdata than the cross-industry common. This contains industries resembling actual property, retail, manufacturing and life sciences.
• Knowledge quantity progress is explosive. The typical AEC agency has elevated file storage by 31.2% compound annual progress fee (CAGR) from 2017 to 2021.
• Knowledge sprawl is a rising problem. The variety of particular person recordsdata saved by AEC companies grew by 23.4% CAGR from 2017 to 2021. Companies have more and more relied on bigger file varieties from varied sources, together with drone footage and 3D imagery. As well as, the rise in specialty purposes resembling Procore and Bluebeam has resulted within the fixed motion of recordsdata from one location to a different.
• Utilization patterns fluctuate broadly throughout disciplines. An AEC employee’s sub-industry (proprietor, structure, engineering, common contractor and specialty contractor) has a direct influence on how they work together with recordsdata and the kinds of recordsdata that they use. Common contractors share recordsdata on the highest fee, whereas homeowners entry probably the most recordsdata.
• Knowledge safety points fluctuate by firm dimension and self-discipline. With extra information comes extra danger. Egnyte flagged a staggering progress of “high-severity” information points from This fall 2020 to This fall 2021, a 325% enhance throughout all AEC domains. For context, a difficulty is taken into account excessive severity when it represents the potential loss or publicity of confidential data or different opposed occasion that leads to a big influence on the enterprise.

Knowledge governance to stability progress with enterprise wants

In response to this skyrocketing quantity of AEC information, Vengosh provided his recommendation on how AEC companies ought to greatest reply.

“To greatest optimize their information and enhance challenge productiveness, AEC companies ought to align the administration of their quickly rising information with their enterprise wants,” he mentioned.

Towards that objective, an efficient information administration plan ought to embrace:

• General enterprise goals and the info wanted to satisfy these goals.
• The means and strategies for making progress.
• A schedule for frequent evaluations and updates.
• Documentation of vital organizational and challenge processes (e.g., insurance policies, kinds, checklists, tutorials and screenshots).

“Establishing information governance is essential,” Vengosh suggested. “Placing programs and processes in place not solely protects office- and project-generated information, however also can assist companies adjust to company, {industry} and authorities rules.”

“Most significantly, IT organizations want to simply accept that handbook processes for governing and managing information (for instance, handbook content material classification or handbook content material retention insurance policies) are usually not viable at present information volumes, and that policy-based automation is central to a profitable content material administration and governance technique,” Vengosh mentioned.